Ranch Hunting: One Person's Sport, Another's Slaughter; Business Grows; So Does Opposition

By DEBRA WEST

Published: May 11, 1999

Eleven years ago, having given up on venison farming, Jerry Contento found a new and lucrative use for his sprawling property in Homer, N.Y. He imported some big-game animals, fenced in nearly 300 acres and opened a ranch where, for a fee, hunters can shoot Russian boar, Rocky Mountain elk, American buffalo or any of a dozen species of exotic deer and sheep.

He never dreamed how good business would be. Mr. Contento's ranch, Cold Brook Hunts, is booked solid this year, and weekends are reserved well into next year.

Hunters are lured by a guaranteed kill, an abundance of well-fed animals to choose from, a year-round open season and the opportunity to use a gun, bow and arrow or a spear. Amenities include an on-site butcher, a walk-in freezer and hunts that can be tailored to most any skill level (easy for people who use wheelchairs, challenging for those who prefer several days of stalking).

Last weekend, a group of about 20 doctors and surgeons hunted Russian boar at Cold Brook on a trip paid for by a pharmaceutical company.

''It's just like sending them on a golf outing,'' said Mr. Contento, 40. ''You can hunt hard all day, but in a controlled environment, where you can take a break and have a nice lunch. It's time spent out in the country. It's a vacation.''

Animal rights advocates have a less genteel description of it: they call it ''canned hunting'' and say it is more slaughter than hunt because the properties are fenced and the animals have no chance to escape. They say that animals hunted on ranches are tame, that they are bred and raised in captivity, fed on a regular basis and have lost their instinct to flee humans.

The animal rights advocates, outraged by what they perceive as cruelty to animals, have stepped up their efforts to pass state and national legislation that would ban canned hunting.

Last month, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals began broadcasting a graphic advertisement in New York depicting a Corsican ram, repeatedly shot in the rump with arrows, quivering and bleeding with no place to run. The footage was taken by an undercover investigator at a hunting ranch in Pennsylvania.

A half-dozen hunting ranch owners in New York and Pennsylvania did not return repeated calls, and those who agreed to be interviewed declined to allow a reporter to witness a hunt.

Eleven states, including New Jersey and Connecticut, have banned canned hunting. In April, after months of debate, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife adopted a regulation banning canned hunting. The regulation will effectively put the state's only exotic hunting preserve, the 2,200-acre Clover Creek Ranch, out of business.

In New York, where the practice is relatively new (Mr. Contento, who opened his hunting ranch in Cortland County in central New York in 1988, claims to be the first), hunting ranches are not regulated by the state.

The State Department of Environmental Conservation, which oversees hunting, regulates only indigenous or endangered animals and migratory birds, said Patrick Martin, a wildlife biologist.

And the State Department of Agriculture and Markets has jurisdiction over farm animals and tests for diseases on all animals brought into state, but does not keep track of which animals go to hunting preserves, said Pete Gregg, the department's spokesman.

Federal legislation that would ban ranch hunting on properties smaller than 1,000 acres has also been introduced, but it has a slim chance of passage, said Wayne Pacelle, a senior vice president for the Humane Society of the United States.

''Politically, Texas is the major impediment,'' Mr. Pacelle said.

Texas had 637 hunting ranches in 1995, the last time a survey was taken, said Ike C. Sugg, executive director of the Exotic Wildlife Association, an industry group.

Ranch hunting in Texas is a tradition that dates from the 1930's and is an estimated $100 million-a-year business. With its warm climate and grasslands, Texas ranches, some with tens of thousands of acres, can easily support a variety of wildlife.

''There are some ranches that have more of a certain species of animal than can be found in their native land,'' Mr. Sugg said.

One preserve, the 777 Ranch, advertises on its Web site, www.777ranch.com, that hunters can shoot any of 50 species on their 15,000-acre ranch. A yak goes for $7,500, an American bison for $5,000 and a rare African antelope for $10,000.

In New York, a bill that would prohibit hunting non-native species on ranches that are 10 acres or less and would prohibit shooting caged, tied or hobbled animals, was passed by the State Assembly in March. It is expected to be voted on this month in the State Senate.

The bill would make hunting on small ranches a misdemeanor under the state's environmental conservation law, punishable with a fine of up to $2,500 and a year in jail.

Even those who are promoting the legislation do not know whether there are actually any hunting ranches in New York State small enough to be affected by the bill.

''The original draft was an out-and-out prohibition on canned hunts,'' said Lisa B. Weisberg, vice president for governmental affairs for the A.S.P.C.A.

The legislation was drafted six years ago, but efforts of the National Rifle Association, the property rights movement and sportsmen's groups have whittled it down.

''What you see now is legislation that's been through two dozen drafts,'' Ms. Weisberg said. ''This is the best we could get.''